Artist Biographies

E. C. Leavitt

1842-1904

E. C. Leavitt was one of the most popular and widely known artists within
the Providence community during his lifetime. This was due largely
to his choice and manner of painting still life.

The artist was the son of
the minister of the Richmond Street Congregational
Church. He was primarily self-taught with the exception of some introduction
from J. Lewin. While Lewin did not share the popularity that Leavitt
did, he is actually recognized today as the better still life painter.
The primary
difference between the two artists is that Lewin chose a more poetic
and interpretive view when painting still life where Leavitt sought
a realistic and material point of view. Leavitt’s concentration on
a more transcriptional
painting of fruit and flower was widely popular because of the technical
proficiency it demonstrated.

After a brief interruption in his painting
career, to serve in the
Navy during the Civil War, Leavitt resumed painting at the Merchants
Bank Building. Later he moved to the Hoppin Homestead Building, setting
up a studio
next to the other popular still life artist Emma Swan. Here Leavitt
produced numerous still life paintings, perhaps thousands. He became
known for being
an untiring worker whose art was in constant demand. John N. Arnold
ranked him among the foremost in his profession in technique declaring
that his
work stands close to the European masters.

Interestingly enough, much
of Leavitt’s success was largely due to the introduction of photography
after the war which caused portrait painting
commissions to decline and still life to emerge as a popular art
form. He is recognized today as a significant still life artist with his
works
exhibited
throughout the United States. E.C. Leavitt contributed to the Rhode
Island art community not only by the high standard of art he painted
but also as
a member of the Providence Art Club and teacher of many Rhode Island
artists.